On the Way of the Samurai — An Open Letter to Ishihara Shintarō, by Mishima Yukio
"There is too little bitterness in your words. They are too frivolous for the words of a man."
On the Way of the Samurai — An Open Letter to Ishihara Shintarō
Mishima Yukio
Having maintained a pleasant relationship with you1 for so many years, it is by no means a pleasure for me to, of all things, publish an open letter in a newspaper. You may think that this should be settled through private correspondence. However, I ask that you understand that the matter seemed to me to be entirely public in character and that I had no choice but to adopt this form in lodging a protest against you, who possess the status of a member of the House of Councillors.
I quite recently read your interview with Kōsaka Masataka2, “Is the LDP Really A Political Party?” in the July issue of Shokun!3. And I was suddenly struck by the impression that this violates the way of the samurai. I am not a member of the LDP, and I hold fundamental doubts concerning that political party. However, my view is that, be it the Socialist Party or the JDSP, they are the same with respect to the way of the samurai.